LETTER FROM THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Dear OTW donors, supporters, and volunteers,

In 2017, the Organization for Transformative Works and its projects worked hard in support of our mission to protect the interests of fans by preserving and defending fanworks and by documenting, studying, and safeguarding fanworks and cultures.

Our Legal team continues to defend copyright fair use, workable Internet policies, and freedom of expression around the world and helps fans to better understand their rights regarding fanworks.

The Archive of Our Own continues its impressive growth: it has over 3 million works with nearly 1.5 million users and over 25,000 fandoms. Our Tag Wrangling team wrangled more than 1.5 million tags in 2017 alone.

Open Doors performed fourteen archive imports in 2017.

Transformative Works and Cultures published three new issues in 2017: on Sherlock Holmes fandom, on queer female fandom, and a general issue.

As our projects expand, we continue to increase our volunteer pool and successful fundraisers. Your donations and our dedicated volunteers help maintain all parts of the OTW, and we hope to continue serving fans and fandom in the years to come.

In 2017 the Board of Directors continued to strengthen all org committees and to expand our financial security. We are planning for the future so that we can maintain a strong and united organization that is prepared to deal with the challenges ahead.

The OTW Board of Directors is looking forward to these challenges and is confident and hopeful for this upcoming year and all the milestones yet to come.

PROJECTS

Archive of Our Own

The Archive of Our Own (AO3) continued to grow in 2017, its tenth anniversary year. In April, the site reached 3 million fanworks and in June, the Tag Wrangling committee canonized AO3’s 25,000th fandom (Brainstorm (1983)).

This growth was supported by the work of the Accessibility, Design, and Technology Committee (AD&T), which updated site technology through 36 releases across the year. Most notably, the committee successfully upgraded AO3 to Rails 5.2 and Ruby 2.3.4. They also improved their automated test coverage from 74% to 84% of the codebase.

The AO3 Documentation committee made five updates to our FAQs in 2017: a new Comments & Kudos FAQ, new questions to the Bookmarks FAQ, the Posting & Editing FAQ, and the Skins & Archive Interface FAQ, as well as an update of the Unofficial Browser Tools FAQ.

From April to December 2017, AO3’s tag wranglers wrangled over 1.5 million tags, and they assisted Open Doors by mapping tags for 16 archives. Tag wranglers also migrated to a new volunteer management database in January and moved to a new Support ticket system in September.

The Abuse committee had a busy year, handling a total of 10,333 tickets. They also worked with the Translation team to streamline the way in which non-English tickets are handled.

AO3 Support handled a total of 16,762 tickets this year, 1,686 of which were received during one day in November when the old AO3 search engine went down.

Finally, in March this year, AO3 was unblocked by the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, allowing the Archive to itself be archived again.

Fanlore

Fanlore increased its outreach considerably in 2017, starting a Tumblr blog in March. Staffers also redesigned the Fanlore homepage, added a weekly Featured Article, and created a section showcasing articles requiring expansion.

During April, Fanlore hosted the month-long April Showers event, encouraging people (and particularly members of smaller fandoms) to contribute their own stories and experiences to Fanlore.

Legal Advocacy

The OTW pursued and expanded its legal advocacy mission in several complimentary ways.

The OTW continued its strategy of joining allies to file amicus briefs in cases that would influence copyright and right-of-publicity law. In January, Legal filed a brief in the California case of Cross v. Facebook, arguing against overreaching right-of-publicity laws and arguing for safe harbors for online service providers under section 230 of the U.S. Communications Decency Act. In May, Legal filed a brief in the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Georgia v. Public Resource, arguing that making something available for free cannot be “commercial use” for purposes of analyzing copyright fair use.

Throughout the year, Legal worked successfully toward renewal, clarification, and expansion of the “vidders’ exemptions” to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which allow users to decrypt DVDs, Blu-Ray discs, and online materials for purpose of using clips to make fair use in noncommercial audiovisual works.

Legal also submitted comments to governments regarding copyright law. In February, March, and May, Legal participated in U.S. Copyright Office consultations regarding section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and regarding whether the U.S. should adopt additional quasi-copyright “moral rights” laws. In April, Legal joined allies in the Re:Create Coalition to send letters to the U.S. House, Senate, and Executive Branch advocating for balanced copyright laws and laying out a set of key values to help guide copyright policy, including the value of free expression. In June, The OTW participated in a successful large-scale action against proposed laws in New York State that would have vastly expanded New York rights of publicity in a way that would dramatically chill free speech about real people, including historical figures. Legal also submitted comments to the U.S. and Canadian governments, highlighting important issues for each nation in their renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement treaty.

Legal continued to work with the Communications Committee to educate fans about the law, promote fan-friendly legal developments around the world, and publicize legal developments of interest to fans. In May, Legal informed and mobilized fans in the European Union regarding legislative proposals that would promote censorship and Internet filtering. Also in May, Legal published an informational post explaining some recent U.S. legal developments about what internet service providers can do with user data, and discussing what impact those legal developments might have on fans in the U.S. In July, Legal staff attended San Diego Comic-Con, where they participated in panels about law and fandom and hosted a well-attended “Meetup of Our Own” with friends and allies celebrating 10 years of the OTW. Also in July, Legal Chair Betsy discussed the OTW, law, and fandom on the latest installment of the Copy This Podcast, entitled “Cosplay, Copyright, and Comic-Con.” Legal also held two open house chats as part of the OTW’s 10th Anniversary celebrations in September, fielding questions about law, fanworks, and the OTW’s legal advocacy mission.

Legal also continued its work to prevent trademark confusion regarding the OTW, AO3, and fandom. This work included corresponding with several app makers who were confusing people into believing that they were affiliated with the OTW. The OTW and AO3 have not authorized any apps.

Finally, Legal conducted a Fan Creation & Copyright survey, which surveyed fans about their knowledge, opinions, and experiences with copyright law. Legal released preliminary results of that survey as part of Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week in February 2017, and used results from the survey in advocacy efforts throughout the year.

Open Doors

Open Doors announced the imports of twenty-one archives to the AO3 in 2017, eight of which were completed. Highlander archives Daire’s Fanfic Refuge and HL Raven’s Nest, and Blake’s 7 archives Hammer to Fall and Bang and Blame were completed in August. The Brian/Justin Fanfiction Archive, a Queer as Folk (US) archive was imported in September. The Collators’ Den, a Life on Mars (UK) and Ashes to Ashes archive was completed in October and The Alpha Gate, a Stargate SG-1 archive, was finished in November.

Eight previously-announced archives were also completed in 2017: The Quidditch Pitch, a Harry Potter archive; The Due South Archive; The Scully Slash Archive, an X-files femmeslash archive for pairings featuring Dana Scully; The Basement, an X-files slash archive primarily featuring the pairings of Mulder/Krycek and Mulder/Skinner; The Hex Files, a Harry Potter fanfiction archive; and StargateFan, a Stargate SG-1 fanfiction archive associated with the fansite StargateFan.com.

At the time of its completion in April 2017, HP Fandom, a Harry Potter archive, was Open Doors’ largest archive import to date at over 8,500 works. Also of note was the manually-imported archive, Turkfanfiction.net, a large Turkish-language multi-fandom archive and one of Open Doors’ most complicated imports, completed in March 2017. Open Doors also assisted in handling Support tickets relating to each of these and with Tag Wrangling to ensure that tags from imported archives were mapped correctly.

Transformative Works and Cultures

The OTW’s international peer-reviewed online journal of academic fan studies, Transformative Works and Cultures, released two themed volumes in 2017. In March, TWC published Volume 23, Sherlock Holmes Fandom, Sherlockiana, and the Great Game, guest edited by Roberta Pearson (University of Nottingham) and Betsy Rosenblatt (Whittier Law School), and with cover art by Laurie Fraser Manifold. In June, TWC published Volume 24, Queer Female Fandom, guest edited by Julie Levin Russo (The Evergreen State College) and Eve Ng (Ohio University). In addition, Volume 25, an unthemed general issue, was released in September 2017.

Fundraising & Outreach

In January, the Development & Membership Committee named a new co-chair, TCD.

Development & Membership held two successful membership drives in 2017. The April membership drive raised US$146,595.80 from 5,660 donors in 73 countries , up 33% in dollars and 28% in individual dollars over April 2016. In October, Development & Membership raised over US$137,000 from over 5,500 individual donations (over 2,733 from first-time donors!) representing more than 70 countries. For both drives, Development & Membership worked with Communications to produce three news posts, which the Translation committee translated into a total of 26 languages.

Communications & Public Relations

The Communications committee published 146 posts during 2017.

Communications celebrated International Fanworks Day in February with a variety of activities including a mini fanworks fest and online games.

In September, Communications celebrated the OTW’s 10th anniversary with a month-long schedule of guest chats, open houses, and special news posts.

The Translation committee added new teams for Bengali, Hebrew, and Marathi in 2017.

The OTW held our third consecutive contested election, fielding six candidates for three open seats. Claire P. Baker, Danielle Strong, and Jessie Camboulives were elected to the Board.

In February, the Board agreed to update the bylaws to allow the Elections Committee to set a consistent membership deadline that stays the same from year to year. The deadline was set at June 30 and first implemented this year.

Behind the scenes, Elections streamlined a number of processes for the candidates. These updates included creating candidate accounts on the Elections website, which allowed candidates to post their own candidacy materials.

TIMELINE 2017

January

Abuse received 438 tickets.

Abuse worked with Translation to streamline how they handle non-English tickets.

AO3 Documentation published the Comments & Kudos FAQ on AO3, as well as a new question in the Bookmarks FAQ.

Fanlore opened a Tumblr blog.

Legal filed a comment with the U.S. Copyright Office, responding to a Copyright Office inquiry asking whether the U.S. should adopt additional “moral rights” laws.

Support received 1496 tickets.

Transformative Works and Cultures published Volume 23, Sherlock Holmes Fandom, Sherlockiana, and the Great Game, guest edited by Roberta Pearson (University of Nottingham) and Betsy Rosenblatt (Whittier Law School), and with cover art by Laurie Fraser Manifold.

Translation began translating several automated user emails.

April

Abuse received 691 tickets.

Accessibility, Design & Technology had four releases in four deploys (Releases 0.9.188-0.9.191).

Accessibility, Design & Technology completed the first step towards upgrading to the latest version of Rails.

AO3 reached 3 million fanworks.

Development & Membership raised US$146,595.80 from 5,660 donors in 73 countries in the April membership drive.

Fanlore hosted the month-long April Showers event, encouraging people to contribute their own stories and experiences to Fanlore, especially those from smaller fandoms.

Legal joined allies in the Re:Create Coalition to send letters to the U.S. House, Senate, and Executive Branch advocating for balanced copyright laws and laying out a set of key values to help guide copyright policy, including the value of free expression.

Open Doors announced the import of Least Expected, a J.R.R. Tolkien slash fanfiction archive.

Legal submitted reply comments to the U.S. Copyright Office regarding the Copyright Office’s inquiry into the “moral rights” of attribution and integrity, following up on their March submission.

Legal joined with several allies to file an amicus brief in the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Georgia v. Public Resource.

Legal worked with Communications to inform and mobilize fans in the European Union with regards to pending legislative proposals that would promote censorship and Internet filtering.

Legal published an informational post explaining some recent U.S. legal developments about what internet service providers can do with user data, and discussing what impact those legal developments might have on fans in the U.S.

Open Doors announced the imports of two Highlander fanfiction archives, Daire’s Fanfic Refuge and HL Raven’s Nest, as well as Death-Marked Love, a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fanfiction archive.

Elections announced the six candidates for the 2017 elections and posted their biographies and platforms.

Fanlore redesigned its homepage and added a weekly Featured Article.

Legal submitted comments to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), highlighting important issues for the upcoming negotiation of the NAFTA treaty.

The OTW participated in a successful large-scale action against proposed laws in New York State that would have vastly expanded New York rights of publicity in a way that would dramatically chill free speech about real people, including historical figures.

Open Doors announced the import of two Blake’s 7 fiction archives, Hammer to Fall and Bang and Blame, to AO3.

Open Doors worked with Tag Wrangling on tag mapping recommendations for multiple archives.

Elections published candidate Q&A responses and held three public chats with candidates.

Legal staff attended San Diego Comic-Con, which included participating in panels about law and fandom and hosting a well-attended “Meetup of Our Own” with friends and allies celebrating 10 years of the OTW.

Legal Chair Betsy discussed the OTW, law, and fandom on the latest installment of the Copy This Podcast, entitled “Cosplay, Copyright, and Comic-Con.”

Open Doors announced the import of Unknowable Room, a Harry Potter fanfiction and fan art archive, and the Brian/Justin Fanfiction Archive, a Queer as Folk (US) fanfiction archive, to AO3.

Elections ran the 2017 Board of Directors election. New Directors-Elect Claire P. Baker, Danielle Strong, and Jessie Camboulives were scheduled to take office October 1, 2017.

Fanlore added a new section to its homepage featuring articles requiring expansion.

Legal submitted a petition to the U.S. Copyright Office seeking to renew the vidders’ exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Legal submitted comments to the Canadian government suggesting what Canada’s copyright law priorities should be as it renegotiates the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the U.S. and Mexican governments.

Open Doors announced the import of The Collators’ Den, a Life on Mars (UK) and Ashes to Ashes fanfiction archive, and The Fandom Haven Story Archive, a multifandom fanfiction archive, to AO3.

AO3 Documentation published two new questions about word counts on AO3 to the Posting & Editing FAQ.

Legal joined allies to submit two petitions to the U.S. Copyright Office, following upon the OTW’s petition to renew the vidder’s exemption, seeking to expand and clarify exemptions to the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provisions for audiovisual remix and multimedia e-books.

Legal also held two open house chats as part of the 10th Anniversary celebrations, fielding questions about law, fanworks, and the OTW’s legal advocacy mission.

Legal addressed issues with app makers who were confusing people into believing that they were affiliated with the OTW. The OTW and AO3 have not authorized any apps.

Open Doors announced the imports of The Alpha Gate, a Stargate SG-1 fanfiction archive, a little piece of gundam wing, a Gundam Wing fanfiction and fan art archive, and soul circuit, a Koko Wa Greenwood fanfiction archive, to AO3.

AO3 Documentation updated the Skins and Archive Interface FAQ, for those who prefer customizing the look of AO3 and of their works.

Board members Alex Tischer, Aline Carrão, and Katarina Harju finished their terms on the Board.

Development & Membership raised over US$137,000 in the October membership drive from over 5,500 individual donations (over 2,733 from first-time donors) representing more than 70 countries.

Finance issued an update on the OTW’s 2017 budget and began preparation for the first audit of the OTW’s financial statements.

Legal announced that in response to their petition, the U.S. Copyright Office would renew the “vidder’s exemption” to the DMCA.

Open Doors announced the imports of West Wing Fanfiction Central, a West Wing fanfiction archive, MTAC, an NCIS fanfiction archive, and Firefly’s Glow, a Firefly fanfiction archive, to AO3.

Support received 1,717 tickets.

Tag Wrangling wrangled approximately 195,589 tags.

Volunteers & Recruiting sent out its annual Still Willing to Serve survey to all OTW personnel.

November

Abuse received 1544 tickets.

Accessibility, Design & Technology had deployed three releases (0.9.208-0.9.210), which included enhancements and new features to help Abuse address the influx of spam works.

Fanlore named a new co-chair, Rebecca Sentance.

Finance launched a new relationship between the OTW and the Humble Store (seller of games, books, comics, and software), where shoppers can choose the OTW as the charity of choice during checkout and the OTW receives a portion of the proceeds.

Legal put out a call for fan stories to support their petitions to the U.S. Copyright Office for expanded and clarified exemptions to the DMCA that would expand permitted fan use of audiovisual materials in transformative works.

Open Doors announced the import of Glass Onion, a multi-fandom fanfiction archive and The Boy / Michael Shanks, an archive for fanfiction about any character portrayed by Michael Shanks.

Open Doors announced the creation of a Fanlore page and memorial account on AO3 for the fanfiction of Dana Knight.

Support received an unusually high 2,954 tickets, receiving 1,686 tickets in one day when the old search engine went down.

Tag Wrangling wrangled 176,649 tags in November.

Webs reported a sharp dip in spam on the OTW website.

December

Abuse received 1,351 tickets, ending 2017 with a total of 10,333.

Board approved and released the 2016 Annual Report.

Legal joined several allies to file support for its petitions seeking to expand and clarify exemptions to the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provisions for audiovisual remix and multimedia e-books.

Open Doors announced the imports of InDeath.net Fan Fiction, an In Death fanfiction archive and All Things Rat, an archive focused on the X-files character Alex Krychek.

Support received 1,329 tickets, ending 2017 with a total of 16,762.

Tag Wrangling wrangled 173,911 tags in December, which brings the total tags from April-December for 2017 to 1,592,605.

Increase (Decrease) in Cash and Cash Equivalents Due to Changes in Operating Assets and Liabilities

Donations Receivable

(11,282.97)

4,880.00

Prepaid Expenses

(2,712.50)

(4,545.00)

Deferred Expenses

(19,166.67)

11,364.00

Accounts Payable

826.76

–

TOTAL

135,767.45

202,636.79

CASH FLOWS FOR INVESTING ACTIVITIES

10,159.99

10,154.63

Cash Paid for Purchase of Property and Equipment

(28,224.00)

(39,609.00)

NET INCREASE IN CASH

$107,543.45

$163,027.79

CASH, BEGINNING OF YEAR

$589,374.79

$426,347.00

CASH, END OF YEAR

$696,918.24

$589,374.79

Notes to Financial Statements

Note 1 – Description of Organization

Organization for Transformative Works, Inc. (“the Organization”) was incorporated as a nonprofit corporation in the State of Delaware on September 5, 2007, and has 501(c)(3) nonprofit status under the Internal Revenue Code. The OTW was established by fans to serve the interests of fans by providing access to and preserving the history of fanworks and fan culture in its myriad forms. The OTW is a collaborative effort initiated and driven by fans for fans. Over 600 volunteers contribute to the OTW’s five major projects (Archive of our Own; Open Doors; Fanlore; Legal Advocacy; Transformative Works & Cultures) as well as fundraising, membership development, and internal management and administration.

Note 2 – Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Basis of Accounting

The financial statements of the Organization are prepared on the accrual basis of accounting in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”).

In accordance with FASB ASC Topic 958, donations received are recorded as unrestricted, temporarily restricted, or permanently restrict support, depending on the existence and/or the nature of any donor restrictions.

The Organization has no temporarily or permanently restricted contributions, as of December 31, 2017.

Donations Receivable

The Organization considers receivables from donors to be fully collectible; accordingly, no allowance for doubtful donations is currently required. If donations receivable amounts should become uncollectible, they will be charged to operations when that determination is made.

Contributed Materials and Services

Contributed materials and services are reflected in the financial statements at the estimated fair value of the materials and services received. The contributions of services are recognized if the services received either: (a) create or enhance non-financial assets or (b) require specialized skills that are provided by individuals possessing those skills and would typically need to be purchased if not provided by donation.

Contributed services of $225,000 and $226,480 were recorded as operating contributions during the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. The contributed services consist of legal services donated to the Organization by the volunteers of the Legal Committee.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates.

Cash

The Organization maintains cash at one financial institution which may exceed federally insured amounts at times.

Investments

Investments in marketable securities with readily determinable fair values and all investments in debt securities are reported at their fair values in the statement of financial position. Unrealized gains and losses are included in the change in net assets. Investment income and gains restricted by donors are reported as increases to unrestricted net assets if restrictions are met, either by passage of time or by use, in the period of reporting in which the income and gains are recognized.

The Organization accounts for investments in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 820, Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures. FASB ASC Topic 820 includes a fair value hierarchy that is intended to increase consistency and comparability in fair value measurements and related disclosures. The fair value hierarchy is based on inputs to valuation techniques that are used to measure fair value that are either observable or unobservable. Observable inputs reflect assumptions that market participants would use in pricing an asset or liability based on market data obtained from independent sources, while unobservable inputs reflect a reporting entity’s pricing based on their own market assumptions.

Level 2: Inputs are quoted prices for similar assets in markets that are not active, inputs other than quoted prices that are observable, and market corroborated inputs which are derived principally from or corroborated by observable market data.

Level 3: Inputs are derived from valuation techniques in which one or more significant inputs or value drivers are unobservable and require the entity to make its own assumptions.

Property and Equipment

Donations of property and equipment are recorded as in-kind contributions at their estimated fair value at the time of donation. Such donations are reported as unrestricted support unless the donor has restricted the use of the donated asset to a specific purpose. Assets donated with explicit restrictions regarding their use are reported as restricted support. Absent donor stipulations regarding how long those donated assets must be maintained, the Organization reports expirations of donor restrictions when the donated or acquired assets are placed in service as instructed by the donor. The Organization reclassifies temporarily restricted net assets to unrestricted net assets at that time.

Property and equipment are depreciated using the double declining balance methods over the estimated useful lives of the assets, which are 5 years. Maintenance and repairs of the assets are charged to operations as incurred. Significant improvements or renewals of assets are capitalized.

Contributions

Contributions received are recorded as unrestricted, temporarily restricted, or permanently restricted support depending on the existence and/or nature of any donor restrictions. Contributions which have any restrictions satisfied in the same period they are received are recorded as increases in net assets and are classified as unrestricted.

The Organization has received no temporarily restricted or permanently restricted support as of December 31, 2017.

Functional Allocation of Expenses

The costs of providing program services, fundraising, and administrative functions are summarized on a functional basis in the statement of activities.

See Figure 1 for a summary of Program Expenses.

Income Taxes

The OTW is a 501c3 organization exempt from Federal income and State franchise taxes under provisions of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and Section 1902(b)(6), Title 30 of the Delaware State Taxation Code respectively. As such, no provision for income taxes has been provided in these financial statements.

Note 3 – Investment Assets

The Organization’s investments are valued as follows:

Level 1 Investments

Asset

2017

2016

Certificate of Deposit

10,159.99

10,154.63

TOTAL

$10,159.99

$10,154.63

Note 4 – Fixed Assets

2017

2016

Servers

253,087.31

224,863.31

Server Hardware & Upgrades

11,877.73

11,877.73

Firewall

3,405.35

3,405.35

TOTAL ASSETS

$268,370.39

$240,146.39

Accumulated Depreciation

(195,587.19)

(153,640.08)

FIXED ASSETS, NET OF ACCUMULATED DEPRECIATION

$72,783.70

$86,506.31

Figure 1 – Program Expenses

2017

2016

PROGRAM SERVICES

Archive of Our Own

Server Hardware

2,180.94

520.97

Server Hosting

36,535.09

34,708.11

Licenses & Support

750.00

12,696.30

Website Domains

76.00

76.00

Website Monitoring

7,726.00

6,395.00

Firewall

1,879.20

89.10

Contractor Services

101,246.25

8,422.48

Professional Services

–

–

Training

418.16

236.20

Travel

–

–

Administration & Management

1,298.30

1,429,14

Depreciation

37,752.40

42,871.23

Total

$189,826.34

$107,444.52

Open Doors

Website Domains

184.90

633.47

Website Hosting

335.47

295.55

Hosted Provider

45.87

–

Plug-ins

16.34

32.67

Administration & Management

99.00

99.00

Depreciation

–

–

Total

$681.58

$1,060.69

Transformative Works & Cultures (TWC)

Server Hardware

48.47

11.58

Server Hosting

791.44

754.42

Licenses & Support

-6.67

282.14

Firewall

41.76

1.98

Contractor Services

–

–

Professional Services

695.00

328.00

Training

3.98

5.25

Travel

–

–

Depreciation

838.94

952.69

Total

$2,436.25

$2,336.06

Fanlore

Server Hardware

121.16

28.94

Server Hosting

1,978.60

1,886.04

Licenses & Support

41.67

803.35

Website Domains

27.00

41.38

Firewall

104.40

4.95

Contractor Services

–

–

Professional Services

–

–

Training

9.95

13.12

Depreciation

2,097.36

5,159.52

Total

$4,380.13

$5,159.52

Legal Advocacy

In-kind Expense

135,000.00

135,888.00

Filing Fees

–

300.00

Training

–

–

Travel

–

1,896.76

Total

$135,000.00

$138,084.75

PROGRAM SERVICES TOTAL

$332,360.30

$254.085.55

FUNDRAISING

Fundraising-Related Expenses

Transaction Fees

13,725.21

11,786.67

Banking Fees

20.98

12.72

Total

$13,746.19

$11,799.39

Premiums

Premium Merchandise

2,082.01

2,134.72

Postage & Shipping

3,013.45

1,922.46

Total

$5,095.46

$4,057.18

Convention Outreach

Postage & Shipping

13.50

–

Administration & Management

700.00

–

Total

$713.50

–

Membership

Membership Tracking Software

3,800.00

3,200.00

Ticketing Software

699.19

424.00

Total

$4,499.19

$3,624.00

FUNDRAISING TOTAL

$24,054.34

$19,480.57

MANAGEMENT & GENERAL

OTW Website

Server Hardware

72.70

17.37

Server Hosting

1,800.73

1,637.88

Hosted Provider

546.35

1,039.40

Website Domains

76.00

76.00

Website Hosting

1,646.27

4,328.89

Contractor Services

–

–

Professional Services

–

–

Firewall

62.64

2.97

Licenses & Support

25.00

423.21

Plug-ins

33.17

66.33

Training

5.97

7.87

Depreciation

1,258.41

1,429.04

Total

$5,527.24

$9,028.96

General Administration

In-kind Expense

90,000.00

90,592.00

Professional Services

4,369.35

2,275.80

Auditing

7,500.00

–

Insurance

3,127.26

3,007.75

Banking Fees

249.07

609.38

Postage &amp: Shipping

2,788.70

2,197.34

Travel

–

–

Tax Filing

801.75

–

Administration & Management

2,130.95

4,200.95

Total

$111,012.08

$102,883.22

MANAGEMENT & GENERAL TOTAL

$116,012.08

$111,912.18

TOTAL EXPENSES

$472,953.96

$385,478.30

ABOUT THE OTW: OUR MISSION, VISION & VALUES

OUR MISSION

The Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) is a nonprofit organization established by fans to serve the interests of fans by providing access to and preserving the history of fanworks and fan culture in its myriad forms. We believe that fanworks are transformative and that transformative works are legitimate.

The OTW represents a practice of transformative fanwork historically rooted in a primarily female culture. The OTW will preserve the record of that history as we pursue our mission while encouraging new and non-mainstream expressions of cultural identity within fandom.

OUR VISION

We envision a future in which all fannish works are recognized as legal and transformative and are accepted as a legitimate creative activity. We are proactive and innovative in protecting and defending our work from commercial exploitation and legal challenge. We preserve our fannish economy, values, and creative expression by protecting and nurturing our fellow fans, our work, our commentary, our history, and our identity while providing the broadest possible access to fannish activity for all fans.

OUR VALUES

We value transformative fanworks and the innovative communities from which they have arisen, including media, real person fiction, anime, comics, music, and vidding.

We value our identity as a predominantly female community with a rich history of creativity and commentary.

We value our volunteer-based infrastructure and the fannish gift economy that recognizes and celebrates worth in myriad and diverse activities.

We value making fannish activities as accessible as possible to all those who wish to participate.

We value infinite diversity in infinite combinations. We value all fans engaged in transformative work: fans of any race, gender, culture, sexual identity, or ability. We value the unhindered cross-pollination and exchange of fannish ideas and cultures while seeking to avoid the homogenization or centralization of fandom.

ABOUT THE OTW: WHO WE ARE

The Organization for Transformative Works is run for fans by fans. The directors of OTW’s Board are all active in fandom, as are the more than 100 other staffers serving on our committees, and our many volunteers.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Claire P. Baker‘s first fannish obsession was with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, which she had nearly memorized at age four. However, Digimon was her gateway into the wider world of fandom. Through it she discovered fansites, fanfiction, and cosplay; and the rest, as they say, is history. Fandom became a strong part of Claire’s academic career, reflected in papers she wrote while obtaining her three degrees (B.A., B.Ed., M.I.), and remains a primary research interest to this day. Claire started volunteering with the OTW in 2014, and became co-chair of the AO3 Documentation Committee a year later. Since then, she has also joined TWC and Tag Wrangling. In her free time, Claire can often be found betaing fanfiction, running various gift exchanges on AO3, and preparing an army of cosplays and panels for her next convention.

Matty Bowers first stumbled upon fandom back in May of 1998; however, she didn't truly get involved until 2001. Her first fandoms were Highlander and Buffy, however she quickly fell into a variety of other fandoms. These days she is very much a fan of fandom; she’ll read pretty much any epic length work in any fandom! Matty mainly lurked the first few years, but eventually started contributing to fannish projects such as newsletters and rec communities. She was fascinated and intrigued when she first heard rumblings about building a place where fandom owned the servers, and joined the OTW as a tag wrangler when the call for volunteers was made in 2009. Since then she has worked on the Support, AO3 Docs, and Abuse committees. Matty graduated with a degree in Education and spent over ten years teaching before moving on to a job in the tech field. She is currently working as a manager for a local business, and in her spare time works as tech support for her many friends and family.

Kristina Busse is founding co-editor of OTW’s academic journal Transformative Works and Cultures and has been working for the OTW for 8 years. She has co-edited several academic books on fan fiction and fan cultures, and continues to publish in the field. Her books include Framing Fan Fiction (2017) as well as the co-edited essay collections Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet, Sherlock and Transmedia Fandom, and The Fan Fiction Studies Reader. All proceeds of the reader go, in fact, to the OTW. Kristina joined organized fandom as a Buffy/Angel shipper in the late 90s and has been in more fandoms since than she dares admit, with a Dragon Age, MCU, and Vorkosigan obsession at the moment. She has a PhD in English from Tulane University and teaches in the Department of Philosophy and in the Gender Studies Department at the University of South Alabama. She teaches everything from logic and mythology to fan studies and LGBT history. Kristina is a transplanted German, living in the Southern United States with her family of tabletop role-playing gamers.

Jessie Camboulives (Secretary) graduated from the Sorbonne Law School, and is currently working towards an LL.M. in Digital Law. She discovered fandom in 2007 with Harry Potter fanfiction, but since then she has become a fandom hoarder, with a current passion for Overwatch and Yuri!!! On Ice. Jessie joined the OTW as a French translation volunteer in 2015, after stumbling on one of Legal’s news posts. She is now serving as a tag wrangler and Support staff, where she works to ensure that AO3 users have the best possible experience on the site.

Priscilla Del Cima (President) has a Law degree and an MBA in Project Management. She first joined the OTW in 2009 and has worked on various committees since then, including Development & Membership and AO3 Documentation. She has been serving as chair of the Translation committee since working to restructure the team in late 2013, and is also working to rebuild the Finance and Fanlore teams.

Atiya Hakeem received her undergraduate degree in biology from the California Institute of Technology, then went to the University of Hawaii for a PhD in biomedical sciences. After working at Caltech as a neurobiologist studying autism and social cognition for many years, she has recently returned to Hawaii, and currently hangs out with aardvarks as a volunteer at the Honolulu Zoo. She has always turned to fandom as an escape and a creative outlet, with interests including Star Trek, baseball, the age of sail, Hawaii Five-O, and anime, which last led to serving as con staff at Anime Expo and AX New York. She joined the OTW as a volunteer in 2012 with AO3 Support and has since answered some 5,000 user inquiries. Motivated by a desire to be directly involved in keeping the Archive running, she joined AD&T (the Archive’s coding and design committee) as a tester, and is now the Quality Assurance & Testing subcommittee lead. She also has served on the Category Change and Survey workgroups.

Danielle Strong began their foray into the world of fandom in the 90s with Gundam Wing slash fiction and fanart. Nearly two decades and a plethora of fandoms later, they’ve made their home on the Archive in the Supernatural and Marvel Cinematic Universe fandoms, amongst others. When recruitment was opened for the Abuse team in early 2014 they knew their skills in hospital patient liaison services, handling complaints and service-user queries would be a good fit for the team, and after joining they never looked back. As an Abuse staffer, Danielle has handled cases from accidental mis-tagging of works to plagiarism and harassment, and can probably quote most of the AO3 Terms of Service by memory by now! They bring a wealth of knowledge in mediation and problem-solving to the team, and is completely dedicated to the OTW and the work it does.

NON-DIRECTOR OFFICERS

Yuechiang Luo (Treasurer)

Emerita Directors

2016

Aline Carrão

Katarina Harju

Alex Tischer

2015

Eylul Dogruel

Soledad Griffin

Andrea Horbinski

M.J. MacRae

Cat Meier

Jessica Steiner

2014

Franzeska Dickson

Anna Genoese

Nikisha Sanders

2013

Julia Beck

Maia Bobrowicz

Ira Gladkova

Kristen Murphy

2012

Francesca Coppa, PhD

Naomi Novik

Jenny Scott-Thompson

2011

Rachel Barenblat

Hele Braunstein

Sheila Lane

Allison Morris

2010

Naomi Novik

Rebecca Tushnet, JD

Elizabeth Yalkut

2009

KellyAnn Bessa

Susan Gibel, JD

2008

Cathy Cupitt, DCA

Michele Tepper, PhD

Read more about our former Directors: http://transformativeworks.org/about/emeritus

Read about our current committees: http://transformativeworks.org/about/committee-descriptions

For more information about our former Board members, see: http:// transformativeworks.org/about/emeritus</p

The Organization for Transformative Works has not received any National Security Letters or FISA court orders, and we have not been subject to any gag order by a FISA court.
The Organization for Transformative Works is a U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. 228 Park Ave S #18156
New York, New York 10003-1502,
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